I refuse to register to get the list, but I saw a good bit of the show last night and I did have the list from 10 years ago.
I'm not going to niggle about whether King Kong should be a bit higher and Sound of Music a bit lower, but I do have a few comments, if anybody's interested:
-- I was happy to see the total of silent films increase from one in 1997 to four this time. All four are worthy -- "Modern Times", "City Lights", "The General" and "Intolerance." Considering that the silent era makes up almost the first quarter of the film century I don't think four is too many. I'd love to see Fairbanks "Thief of Bagdad" added to the list.
-- I still question the AFI's definition of an American film. "Lawrence of Arabia" is directed by a British director, starring a mostly British cast and shot in Arabia and Britain. It qualifies because it was financed by an American studio. Bridge on the River Kwai has much the same makeup (although William Holden does have a major role) ... I know Kubrick was born in American, but he moved to England in 1962 and lived and worked there for the rest of his life -- from Lolita to Strangelove to Clockwork Orange to 2001. Claiming Kubrick's movies as American makes as much sense as Hungary claiming "Some Like it Hot."
-- Interesting that "Saving Private Ryan" made the list, but "Shakespeare in Love" didn't -- a reversal of the Academy Award vote.
-- The only ranking I strongly object to is how low they had "The Searchers" ... it's made the international top 10 for each of the last three votes (which also come every 10 years).
-- It would have been nice to have at least one documentary ... maybe Flaherty??
-- The voters were in love with Hitchhttp://www.dukebasketballreport.comhttp://www.dukebasketballreport.comhttp://www.dukebasketballreport.comhttp://www.dukebasketballreport.com ... I think they seriously underrated Ford (he deserves a lot more than "Grapes of Wrath" and "The Searchers")
The AFI list is interesting, but don't take it too seriously.